How fat distribution affects running performance

"This suggests that women with greater [abdominal fat to lower-body fat] mass ratio exhibited a reduced ability to switch efficiently to a greater reliance on lipid oxidation during prolonged exercise" the researchers wrote. That is, the women with less abdominal fat had what the researchers called better "metabolic flexibility." This is significant because, in theory, the women who burned more fat at a given effort level could sustain that activity for longer, because they wouldn't drain their muscle glycogen stores as quickly.